Phar Mor

Phar-Mor Inc. said earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization were $4.5 million for the two months ended Aug. 28. Phar-Mor said the company's target under its revised business plan was $1.9 million. Phar-Mor said its current cash holdings are now more than $200 million. Phar-Mor, once the nation's top deep-discount drug store operator, has been operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection since last year, after the company discovered massive accounting fraud allegedly orchestrated by top executives.

COMMUNICATIONS Bass family keeps some Disney Members of the Bass family of Texas and affiliated trusts hold about 60 million Walt Disney Co. shares, or nearly 3 percent of the company, after selling off most of their stake last week, according to a regulatory filing Monday. The filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission followed Thursday's sale of 135 million Disney shares by the billionaires and their various trusts. Disney shares ended trading on Monday up 3 cents at $17.90 on the New York Stock Exchange.

DEB RICHARD rolled in a 15-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole, from virtually the same spot from which she missed a potential winning putt moments before, to beat Jane Geddes and win the Phar-Mor Classic at Vienna, Ohio. Richard picked up the third victory of her six-year career. A closing 4-under 68 left her at 207, 9 under, for the tournament after rounds of 70 and 69 at the Squaw Creek Country Club.MICKELSON TAKES WESTERN OPENPHIL MICKELSON became only the fifth qualifying medalist to win the Western Open in Benton Harbor, Mich.

MARKETS TAKE A HOLIDAY U.S. financial markets were closed Wednesday for the Independence Day holiday. Listings of today's trading will appear in Friday's Money section. B&N.COM TO OFFER FREE SHIPPING Following on the heels of its rival Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com has introduced a free shipping offer for two or more items purchased. The online bookseller also reduced the domestic standard ground rates for shipment of single items by a dollar, the company said. Barnes & Noble.com's spokeswoman Carolyn Brown said that the free shipping strategy is aimed at "making it easier for consumers to shop."

Lake County's citrus-based, freeze-dried economy got a rejection notice Monday when a national discount drugstore chain announced it chose Ocala over Leesburg for a retailing warehouse that will employ about 900 workers.The Leesburg area was among the top three sites being considered by Phar-Mor, which chose Marion County over Lake and Polk counties, said Marc Oliveri, vice president of the Economic Development Commission of Mid-Florida.Area business officials had hoped the 1.4 million-square-foot retailing warehouse would help diversify Lake's economy, which is trying to recover from three devastating freezes in the 1980s.

Michael Monus, the entrepreneur who helped build Phar-Mor Inc., went on trial in federal court Tuesday for allegedly plundering the drug store chain, duping investors and evading taxes. Jury selection began for Monus' trial on more than 100 counts of fraud, money laundering and tax evasion. Phar-Mor has close about half of its 300 stores and laid off thousands of employees since seeking protection from creditors in August 1992.

Phar-Mor Inc. announced Monday that it plans to close 31 stores, including an outlet in west Orlando, in early March.The closings, which require U.S. Bankruptcy Court approval, are part of the discount drugstore chain's financial reorganization. Phar-Mor, based in Youngstown, Ohio, closed 55 stores last year after seeking protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.Allegations by the U.S. attorney's office of fraud and embezzlement among the company's former top officials led to the company's bankruptcy filing.

Phar-Mor Inc., which sought bankruptcy court protection after disclosing it uncovered an alleged management-led fraud and embezzlement scheme, has arranged to extend its financing. The deep-discount retailer said its credit line, arranged last fall, has been extended through September 1994. The amount has been reduced to $100 million from $150 million because the company has never had to draw on the credit line and does not expect it will in the future, President Anthony Alvarez said in statement Thursday.

Phar-Mor Inc. announced Friday that it plans to close as many as 66 unprofitable drugstores, including outlets in Daytona Beach and Merritt Island, in early May.Three stores in the Orlando area are expected to remain open along with about 163 other profitable locations nationwide.Because the discount chain is scheduled to seek U.S. Bankruptcy Court approval on May 4 for the cost-cutting measure, an exact closing date was not available.Phar-Mor sought protection from creditors in August under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

Two firsts are happening in Central Florida real estate, specifically, in south Seminole County.Trammell Crow Co. is preparing to build its first shopping center in the region on 11 acres at U.S. Highway 17-92 in Casselberry.The company, a major developer of industrial buildings and office space in the Orlando area since the early 1980s, paid $2.6 million (a little more than $236,000 an acre or $5.43 a square foot) for the land, which is the former site of Vaughan Nursery. Terry Marks of Ferncreek Properties in Orlando was the broker in the transaction.

INTERNTATIONALAirlines' reply expected soon on alliance queryBRUSSELS, Belgium - British Airways and AMR Corp.'s American Airlines have until the beginning of September to reply to demands made by the European Commission in return for approving their proposed alliance, a commission spokeswoman said Friday. Until that happens, European Competition Commissioner Karel Van Miert would not comment further than saying that the issue ''was not just about slots'' at the congested London Heathrow airport, the spokeswoman, Heike Gerstbrein, said at the commission's daily news briefing.

A FORMER accountant with the defunct Phar-Mor Inc. drugstore chain has settled civil charges, the fourth person to resolve a federal lawsuit in the $1.1 billion fraud case. The Securities and Exchange Commission said John Anderson agreed to pay a $10,000 civil penalty to settle charges that he participated in manipulating financial statements from 1987 through 1992. The SEC case alleged Phar-Mor, a Youngstown, Ohio-based chain, engaged in widespread accounting fraud. The company overstated income by $290 million between 1987 and 1992 and overstated another $238 million in its 1992 fiscal year.

The Common Fund, an investment fund that manages about $20 billion in university endowment funds, has sued a securities trader seeking to recover losses it attributes to his actions. The fund sued Kent Ahrens in U.S. District Court in Harrisburg on Tuesday in its attempt to recover about $137.6 million in losses on investments with First Capital Strategists, the York-based company for which Ahrens worked.The loss resulted in slightly lower investment returns on endowment funds at the 700 universities and colleges.

A U.S. BANKRUPTCY judge in Youngstorn, Ohio, signed Phar-Mor Inc.'s financial reorganization plan Tuesday in a move that will permit the discount drugstore chain to emerge from three years under court supervision. Phar-Mor closed two-thirds of its stores, including those in Central Florida, as part of its reorganization.

ANTONIO ALVAREZ, the turnaround specialist hired to save Phar-Mor Inc. after the discovery of a $1 billion management fraud, will make a ''graceful exit'' once the discount drugstore chain's bankruptcy reorganization is approved. New York-based Alvarez & Marsal Inc. was brought in a few weeks after Phar-Mor discovered the fraud and embezzlement scheme and fired its top managers, including co-founder and President Michael Monus. Phar-Mor sought bankruptcy court protection in August 1992, then appointed Alvarez its acting chief financial officer.

Big stores and low prices didn't work for Phar-Mor Inc. or Drug Emporium Inc. in Central Florida.The two national discount-drugstore chains are pulling out.Phar-Mor, of Youngstown, Ohio, plans to sell or close 17 stores in Florida, including all four in Central Florida, by July. If all of the local stores are closed, it would cost 174 employees their jobs.The move is part of a corporate restructuring under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code. The company plans to close or sell 41 less-profitable stores nationwide.

Lake County is vying to be the home for a mammoth 1.4 million-square-foot retailing warehouse that could employ 900 when completed.Phar-Mor, which will use the warehouse as its Southeast regional distribution center, is studying 4 sites in Florida and two others outside the state, said Jeff York of the Orlando real estate firm of Cushman & Wakefield.''Phase 1 will have warehouse space of 250,000 to 350,000 square feet,'' York said. The initial facility is expected to expand to 1.4 million square foot within two years of the initial ground-breaking in mid-1990.

Big stores and low prices didn't work for Phar-Mor Inc. or Drug Emporium Inc. in Central Florida.The two national discount-drugstore chains are pulling out.Phar-Mor, of Youngstown, Ohio, plans to sell or close 17 stores in Florida, including all four in Central Florida, by July. If all of the local stores are closed, it would cost 174 employees their jobs.The move is part of a corporate restructuring under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code. The company plans to close or sell 41 less-profitable stores nationwide.